See My Candle Burning

I usually do a quick shapes assignments right before holiday break with my 1st grade students.   We generally talk about the shapes needed to create this drawing and then follow along to create the basic candle in the holder.  Students complete the composition by personalizing the drawing with what they might see outside of the window.   This year I ordered Scratch Art Scratch Lite paper and decided to use it to create the drawings. Follow this link to find the paper: Scratch Lite at Dick Blick  The kids were totally enchanted by the results and so excited to take their stain glass art home to hang on a window as a holiday decoration. Some students "colored in" the candle and the flame to add more contrast.   I most definitely will order this in for use with this project next year.   Now I am brainstorming other ways to incorporate this paper into my other lessons.

Fiber Art Sculptures

A really interesting fiber arts sculpture project that I definitely want to try with my classes! #c1742549297492367296

Cutting snowflakes while it snows

I've been watching the snow fall outside all morning and decided to cut a few flakes of my own.  I left all of my wonderfully prepared rectangles at school so dug out some old coffee filters to make these flakes.  The folding proceedures I used were the same and the coffee filters have a weight similar to tissue paper.  I flattened the filter, folded and started to cut.  I love the ability to surprise myself with random cuts as well as the ability to plan my cuts for a preconcieved flake design.  There are lots of sites on the internet for flake cutting instructions.  I prefer to fold the paper in half then into thirds and a final half fold prior to cutting.  I found a wonderful page describing this proceedure which included how to incorporate the protractor into the process for precise measuring on the site There's a Dragon in my Art Room.  The project is "A Proper Snowflake".   Here are some of my flakes and also some pictures of the natural stuff outside!

 

Blue Birds in New England

Here is a photo of a beautiful blue bird taken from my front window during Saturday's snow.  My daughter and I glanced out to spot five of these little fellows weathering the winds in two of the trees near our house.  My daughter is studying photography and couldn't pass up on the opportunity to take a few photos.  This one is my favorite of all the ones she shot.  More of her work can be found on K Shot Photography

Clay projects begin in January!

Looking forward to starting clay projects when we return to school in January.  These are castles from the after-school program last year and a fish "food chain" from a 3rd grade student.  The clay dragon was created over a cone by a 3rd grade student.

Taking a break with a new book

My copy of "The Artist Edge" by Lisa Phillips arrived yesterday.  I'm already a couple of chapters in and would recommend it to educators from all disciplines.  Ms. Phillips explores the various ways the arts enhance learning as well as highlights the 7 skills children need to success in the 21st century. 

Birds in the birch trees



I found this project on the blog, Deep Space Sparkle.  With a birch tree visable from my elementary classroom in New England, it felt like a project worth pursuing.  We could observe the uniqueness of this beautiful tree that dots our landscape and create a beautiful project for the winter season using a variety of techniques.  I used this with my second grades in two different buildings and had extreme results.  One group created the project your see above while the other building was a disaster!  I want to think it was the excitement of December that created a varied results but I can't verify that as a truth.  The project was beautiful when created by students in the successful building and I am glad to be able to post a few results to share with everyone.  This was the first opportunity for students to mount their own works.